Product Description

From antiquity, when the gods and goddesses were commonly featured in works of art, through to the twentieth century, when Surrealists drew on archetypes from the unconscious, artists have embedded symbols in their works. As with previous volumes in the Guide to Imagery series, the goal of this book is to provide contemporary readers and museum visitors with the tools to read the hidden meanings in works of art. This latest volume is divided thematically into four sections featuring symbols related to time, man, space (earth and sky), and allegories or moral lessons. Readers will learn, for instance, that night, the primordial mother of the cosmos, was often portrayed in ancient art as a woman wrapped in a black veil, whereas day or noon was often represented in Renaissance art as a strong, virile man evoking the full manifestation of the sun's energy. Each entry in the book contains a main reference image in which details of the symbol or allegory being analyzed are called out for discussion. In the margin, for quick access by the reader, is a summary of the essential characteristics of the symbol in question, the derivation of its name, and the religious tradition from which it springs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71979 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780892368181
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
This sixth volume of the Getty's superb Guide to Imagery series does not disappoint, following a winning formula to satisfying results. Like its predecessors, the book lushly reproduces masterworks and breaks them down into their component parts, explaining the meanings attached to each in helpful marginal text. The volume contains a selection of exemplary paintings from the last 500 years, but it's particularly heavy on the Renaissance-familiar standouts include van Eyck's The Arnolfini Marriage, Holbein the Younger's The Ambassadors, Botticelli's Spring and several fantastic works by Bruegel the Elder. The book is divided into four sections-"Time, " "Man, " "Space" and "Allegories"-with plenty of subsections in each. For anyone unfamiliar with Renaissance symbols and tropes, this book adds depth and nuance to the sensual power of its greatest works.
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About the Author

Matilde Battistini is an art critic and author, along with Stefano Zuffi, of Picasso, L'opera di un genio and La Natura Morta.

Customer Reviews

Oversimplistic and information-poor
Only the most obvious is stated, and then only in the simplest possible way, with no background information, no "story" behind each symbol, its use by particular artist at particular time in history etc.
On the other hand very visual in presentation, therefore rather clear and simple, easy to understand.
Recommended if you are interested in the subject on a very superficial level.

A Valuable Guide to Understanding References in Paintings
SYMBOLS AND ALLEGORIES IN ART was originally published in Italian by author Mathilde Battistini and is here resubmitted to the art loving public in a translated version courtesy of the Getty Foundation. The book is visually stunning and informative and offers a very handy reference volume for the museum visitor as well as the artist in understanding the derivation of symbols and myths and allegories that have sustained a presence in painting since the Baroque period.

Well designed in a logical way, each symbol or mythological character or even still life component is fully illustrated with a full page painting and accompanied by a terse but informative few paragraphs of explanation. The fine aspect is the manner in which each painting is easily identified at the moment it is introduced, and even though a fine bibliography is found in the back of the book, for once the information necessary to make the 'connect' is right before the eyes of the viewer.

This well illustrated volume is a welcome adjunct to the art history library as well as an interesting companion for the reader whose fascination in mythology is what brings them to art in the first place! Recommended. Grady Harp, February 06